Protector of Man
by exsailor1999
Summary: YAHF. Xander dresses as a Highlander Immortal for Halloween.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc are the properties of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. This fanfic is not for profit and no copyright infringement is intended. The premise for this fanfic was inspired by and is basically a rip off of the Forever White Knight series by DanaShort that can be found on the website.

 **Warning:** Extremely AU. There will be character deaths. Most characters will be extremely noncanon after a certain point. This is a super! Xander story. Xander/Multi. Possible smut, definitely sexual situations and vulgar language. You have been warned.

 **AN:** Dawn is the Key, but when the monks cast the spell to send it to the Slayer they screwed up the incantation and sent it back in time. Dawn Summers is biologically the child of Joyce and Hank Summers and she is 1 year younger than Buffy rather than 5. Meaning that she is a sophomore at the time this fic starts.

 **Chapter 1**

 ** _Spike's warehouse._**

A tall pale vampire, who was once a 19th century aspiring poet named William Pratt, stood with short bleached hair wearing a black leather trench coat in an abandoned warehouse in front of a television. He watched a video that showed a pretty blonde girl fighting multiple opponents in a graveyard at night.

"Here it comes…Rewind that. Let's see that again." The British vampire now feared throughout the world as Spike, for his glee in torturing his victims with railroad spikes, said in his trademark Cockney accent. A dark haired vampire stood next to him and used the remote control to manipulate the video. The vampire once known as William the Bloody chuckles to himself as he commented, "She's tricky. Baby likes to play."

A particularly viscous exchange of blows occurs on screen between the teen and her opponents ending when she rams a signpost through one of the vampires dusting him. As he watched the Slayer kill his minions Spike laughed before commenting, "You see that? The way she stakes him with that thing? That's what you call resourceful that is. Rewind it again."

As Spike finished speaking, a beautiful vampire with long dark hair walked in from the other room and stated in a languorous voice with a refined British accent, "Miss Edith needs her tea."

Spike held his hand out to her as he said, "C'mere, poodle."

The vampire Drusilla took her childe's hand and rested her head against his shoulder as she asked. "Do you love my insides? The parts you can't see?"

"Eyeballs to entrails, my sweet. That's why I've got to study this Slayer. Once I know her I can kill her. And once I kill her you can have your run of Sunnyhell. Get strong again."

"Don't worry. Everything's switching. Outside to inside. It makes her weak." She commented idly.

"Really? Did my pet have a vision?" Her lover asked eagerly.

"Do you know what I miss? Leeches."

"Come on, talk to Daddy. This thing that makes the Slayer weak? When is it?"

"Tomorrow."

With a disgusted look on his face Spike incredulously spoke. "Tomorrow's Halloween. Nothing happens on Halloween."

"Someone's come to change it all. Someone new."

As she left Spike's side, the mad seer danced to music only she could hear, all the while cradling her doll.

 _Back room at Ethan's._

A handsome, dark haired man in his mid 40s comes through a curtain wearing a purple robe. As he knelt before a bust of a 2 faced statue, one male and one female, used to represent Janus, the Roman god of doorways, change, and chaos, Ethan Rayne bowed his head. He pressed his hands together reverently and winced in pain as the blade he'd trapped between them cut into his palms. When he pulled them apart the wounds bled freely. Moving his hands in a gesture of supplication he began speaking in a reverent tone.

"The world that denies thee, thou inhabit."

The Chaos mage dabbed the blood from his left hand with his right middle finger and smeared it over his right eyelid, before continuing.

"The peace that ignores thee..."

And after dabbing the blood from his right hand with his left middle finger he smeared it over his left eyelid.

"...thou corrupt."

He dabbed the blood from his left hand with his right middle finger again and finished the rite by smearing a cross onto his forehead.

"Chaos. I remain, as ever, thy faithful, degenerate son."

 ** _1630 Revello Dr._**

Xander Harris walked up to the front door of the Summers' house sporting a black leather trench coat he'd bought at the new costume shop Ethan's paired with a blue dress shirt over a plain white tee shirt and a pair of loose fit jeans with steel toed boots that Uncle Rory had worn when he was deployed for Operation Desert Storm to complete the outfit. The hilt of a sword was left just-visible in scabbard sown in to the lining of the left side of the coat. Stepping onto the porch, Xander rang the door bell with the back of his left hand as his fingertips were covered in puncture wounds from his sewing attempts. After the pleasant chime sounded he waited for one of the lovely ladies that lived there to open it. After a moment an attractive blonde woman dressed as Little Red Riding Hood answered the door.

"Xander," Joyce greeted him, smiling as she opened the door wider. "Please come in. Buffy and Willow are still upstairs. But Dawn's ready to go so you can keep us company while you wait."

"Mrs. Summers, first let me just say I'm really wishing I'd gone with the Big Bad Wolf costume all of a sudden." The teen said with his trademark smile. "And you really shouldn't invite anybody in after dark in this town. It may only be a superstition but you're really asking for bad luck if you keep that up." Xander answered as he followed the woman who was rapidly becoming more of a mother to him than his own into the house.

"Xander, it's rude, not to invite someone in. But for you I'll try to get out of the habit." She said with an answering smile. "And thanks for the compliment."

"Thanks. I know it's weird but this isn't a safe town. You should be more careful."

"Ok, Xander. I'll try to be more rude if it will make you feel better." the woman said, shaking her head at the weirdness of her daughter's friends. "Girls! Xander's here!" Joyce called as she sat back down next to her younger daughter on the couch. "So, what are you dressed as?"

"Xan where's your costume?" Dawn asked at the same time as her mother when she looked up from her magazine. It still gave her a thrill whenever the boy she was crushing on walked into her living room.

He stopped dead in his tracks and it took the lanky young man a moment to pick his jaw up off the floor and control his hormone driven urge to check out the Slayer's little sister. Her silver toga like dress with golden spectacles was a perfect replica of one worn by a guest star on one of his favorite TV shows in a recent episode. Dawn's costume showed off her curves and legs to devastating effect, and the shield and spear next to her only made it harder for Xander to control his instinctive reaction to drool.

"Athena, my goddess your divine presence has blessed me this night." He replied as he made a show of kneeling at the youngest Summers' feet and genuflecting the way he imagined the ancient Greeks might have upon meeting with their goddess. As he stood up Xander didn't notice the furious blush that lit up the younger Summers' face. He made his way to lean up against the recliner and continued, "This is my costume Dawnster. I'm an ancient immortal from the Highlander franchise." He opened the coat a bit to flash the sword he was carrying. "Have you ever seen it?"

Neither teen noticed the sudden speculative look on Joyce's face as she thought to herself, 'I have no idea why Buffy turned down such a cute boy but it looks like he's over her finally. Now that Xander's noticed she's a girl maybe Dawn will stop being such a jealous brat to her sister.'

"Oh right, I've seen that show. There can be only one. The guy that plays Duncan is gorgeous." 'He's almost as hot as you' Dawn thought to herself, while pretending to be interested in her magazine. She was still trying to stop blushing at his over the top greeting.

"Right…I didn't need to hear that. I'd much rather have you concentrate on me." Xander replied with his trade mark goofy grin shining through. At that moment, the sound of someone making their way down the stairs could be heard which distracted the teen from seeing the blush that had started to die down erupt across Dawn's face. And while the boy missed it, her mother most certainly didn't.

As the class clown watched his Slayer friend make her entrance in a beautiful old styled dress he thought to himself, 'She looks beautiful. Too bad her taste in men goes more towards the dead and demony.' Not allowing himself to dwell on that thought he greeted her. "Buffy! Lady of Buffdom, Duchess of Buffonia. I have to admit, after seeing you in that getup I completely renounce spandex." The only male Scooby said as he admired the apparent 18th century noblewoman.

"Why thank you kind sir." The object of his once upon a time crush responded. "You're looking very trenchcoatey tonight." Buffy commented. "Wait till you see Willow she looks…" Buffy trailed off as someone came down behind her. She turned, "like Casper." She finished with a questioning look at her female friend, who rather than showing off her sexy outfit was covered head to toe in a white sheet.

"Wow Will that's a fine Boo you've got going on tonight." Xander said. "I'm not surprised that you don't recognize it Buffy. As to the untrained eye it would appear that I am in fact not wearing a costume. But the ignorant people who thought that would be wrong because I am actually dressed as an Immortal from the Highlander TV show."

"Oooh, the one with the hot pony tail guy and the really bad sword fighting?"

"Uhm yeah, that's the one." He then turned to his childhood friend as he continued with a disappointed look on his face. "I AM surprised that you don't recognize the costume Willow."

"OH! Xander you're Alaksandu of Wilusa!" Willow said in her excited voice. As the three Summers women looked on in confusion Xander grinned at his childhood friend.

"There's a game we used to play called the World of Darkness. It's kind of like Dungeons and Dragons but instead of playing characters that are elves, dwarves, and clerics you play characters that are werewolves, vampires, ghosts, and mages. Anyway, a couple of years ago a fan of the game who was also a fan of the TV show decided to create a game using the rules of in the World of Darkness to play as a Highlander style Immortal." Willow explained. "Xander is dressed as the character Jesse would always play. His name is Alaksandu of Wilusa and before his first death he was a king in what's now Turkey 4,000 years ago. Jesse always wanted to get him added to the show, but he was never able to get a hold of those darn producers."

"How did you know he was dressed as Jesse's character and not yours or his own?" Buffy asked.

"Because I always played a female mage and Xander always played a vampire."

Seeing the strange look on Buffy's face Xander quickly explained, "Vampires weren't really evil in the game. They still had souls and everything. They had an inner Beast they had to fight to control their bloodlust but they weren't really bad unless they let themselves be."

The young man then went on to describe the made up character as the four women surrounding him looked on in bemusement at his enthusiasm. "He's been a slave and a king and everything in between, even a shaman, not to mention a priest in quite a few religions. He's traveled all over the globe and speaks a huge number of languages. Alaksandu or Alexander Wilson as he's called these days is a certified genius with perfect recall and a childlike curiosity about everything, which he hides behind well honed cynicism and a sarcastic smart-ass demeanor. Good in a fight and with a nifty little trick of suppressing his Quickening so other Immortals can't detect him; Alex is never seen by the others unless he wants to be seen. He's currently living in New York and working as a Professor of Engineering at NYU."

"Wow Xander. Your friend obviously put a lot of thought into this." Joyce commented.

"Yeah you look great Xander." His yellow crayon buddy said.

"What can I say? I figured this was a good way to honor my brother."

"Good for you." The slayer's mother replied.

"Yeah Xander, I think your costume idea is really cool." Dawn jumped in.

Flashing a grin at Dawn to thank her for the compliment, Xander asked. "Is everybody ready to go? I really don't feel like giving the Troll an excuse to hammer us some more." When everybody indicated that they were ready to face the evening, including their troll-like principal, the teens wished Joyce fun at her party and headed out.

Once at the High School each of the friends picked up their group of kids and led them off on a trick or treat adventure. As Xander walked with his group of kids he advised them on the best ways to get candy. "Okay, on sleazing extra candy: tears are key. Tears will normally get you the double-bagger. You can also try the old 'you missed me' routine, but it's risky. Only go there for chocolate. Understood?" All of the kids nodded their heads. "Okay, troops. Let's get started."

 ** _The backroom at Ethan's costume shop_.**

The chaos mage knelt down and genuflected before he began the night's work. As he chanted in an old language, Ethan Rayne made offerings to the two headed bust of his patron god. "Janus, evoco vestram animam. Exaudi meam causam. Carpe noctem pro consilio vestro. Veni, appare et nobis monstra quod est infinita potestas."

He completed the spell with a shouted, "Janus, evoco vestram animam! Exaudi meam causam. Carpe noctem pro consilio vestro! Veni, appare et nobis monstra quod est infinita potestas!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 _ **Suburban street not far from the High School**_

The man who had for the last decade been known as Alexander Wilson, PhD. was very confused. One minute he was walking into his private dojo in New York for a morning workout and the next its nighttime, he's outside and what look like demons are running around chasing humans all over the place. Looking around to get a feel for his surroundings, Alex noticed that the architecture on display almost certainly placed him somewhere in the southwestern U.S., which meant that he was thousands of miles from where he should be. The costumes some of the adults were wearing told him it was most probably Halloween, and since a moment ago it was July that meant he was missing at least 3 months worth of memories. Now, a man doesn't survive 4,000 years without being able to adapt to strange circumstances and surprise and confusion weren't enough to slow survival instincts honed over millennia. So when one of the midget monsters growled and attacked, Alex did what he'd been doing all of his adult life. He drew the sword he had been wielding since his days amongst the Norse and went to work. As the demon's leaping attack carried it towards him he shifted his weight to the balls of his feet, and in a flash almost too fast for the human eye side side-stepped out of the way and took its head off.

"Xander! Ohmygodwhatdidyoujustdo?" The screech of a young woman's voice in an American accent startled Alex so badly that he'd impaled the girl before he'd consciously registered that she wasn't attacking him. Which quite confused the man as his Quickening normally allowed him to sense everyone around him.

At least, she'd have been impaled if she'd had a body. As the Immortal turned to look at where the voice had come from, the first thing he noticed was that whoever she was, she was standing there with a good four inches of his three foot long sword impaling her stomach. This was odd, since Alex hadn't felt the impact that normally came when one stabs something with a sword. The next thing he noticed was that she was young, mid to late teens at the oldest and dressed like a street walker. Face was cute enough even with the rapidly paling skin tone and terrified look but nothing special, she had red hair and was absolutely no one that Alex had ever seen before.

"Whydidyoutrytostabme?! It's me, Willow!" The teen babbled at him.

Taking a moment to slow down and review what the girl had just said to him, he replied as he lowered his sword. "Young lady, I don't know any Willow and if you can't figure out why surprising an armed man after a life threatening situation is a bad idea then I suggest you retire from being a prostitute and go back to school, because you are far too naïve to survive otherwise. Now what are you and why aren't you disemboweled?"

"Xander, quite messing around. This is no time for jokes." Was her nonsensical reply.

"Who's joking? What the hell's going on here?" Alex demanded in an irate voice.

"You don't know me?" She asked in a broken voice.

Letting out a sigh of frustration at the exasperating girl Alex replied, "Miss, I suggest you answer my question than get off the street."

"Xander, listen to me. I'm on your side, I swear! Something crazy is happening. I was dressed as a ghost for Halloween, a-and now I am a ghost. And you were supposed to be an immortal from the TV show Highlander, and now I, I-I guess you're a real Immortal."

Looking at the red head incredulously Alex asked, "You expect me to believe that?"

Distracted by their conversation, Willow hadn't noticed the monster as it snuck up behind her friend. But she did notice the sudden tensing of his shoulders as he wearily looked around. As his Quickening informed him of the monster approaching him from behind, Alex moved to defend himself and the girl. As whatever it was pounced towards where Alexander had been standing, he spun around and tightened the grip on his sword. As Alex lifted the blade, he watched dispassionately as the little demon impaled itself.

"That was a little kid! How could you?!" The ghostly teen screamed.

"It attacked me and I defended myself. Are suggesting that I let it kill me?"

"No, but it was just a little kid under a spell. You didn't need to kill him." She said as tears made their way down her face.

"Well now that I know the oompah-loompahs are kids I'll be sure to knock them out instead." He replied. "Now I think it's time for you to answer some questions. Specifically where am I? Who are you? What's the date? And most importantly, what the hell is going on!?"

"My name is Willow Rosenberg. You're in the body of my friend Xander Harris. This is Sunnydale, California. It's Halloween in 1997 and everybody has been changed into their costumes. We need to find Buffy and Giles and stop this before to many more people get killed."

"Uh huh." He said in a tone of voice that emphasized that he didn't believe a word of what she'd just told him.

"Go look in the side mirror of that car." The young woman said.

"What good is that gonna do?" He asked her incredulously. Seeing the exasperated look she gave him in response he figured he might as well indulge the girl. Walking over to the Camry parked along the curb in front of a quaint little two story house he bent over and looked in the side view mirror. Stunned at what he saw in the mirror, Alex had to check twice. Instead of his adult face with Mediterranean skin tone and coloring he saw the visage of a young man no older than the red head with Caucasian features and hair and eyes that appeared to be lighter than his own coal black.

"Okay let's say that I buy into this whole ludicrous idea for even a moment. If the spell ends I'm back in my body right?"

"I think so." She said uncertainly.

"That'll have to do." He said in a world weary tone. "Well you're the local expert. Where do we go first?"

"We need to find Buffy. She'll know what to do." His tour guide said as she started walking down the street.

"What's a Buffy?" Alex asked as he followed along behind her.

"I'll tell you on the way, come on!"

The unlikely pair had only walked a couple of blocks with the red headed teen ghost describing who she was, who he was possessing and as she started to talk about their mutual friend Buffy the squeal of hard breaking tires caught their attention. As a car horn honked repeatedly, they could hear the voice of a girl screeching, "Demon!"

They ran up to the intersection and found a brunette in an old fashioned lady's gown cowering in front of the headlights of a grey Ford Taurus as the driver repeatedly honked his horn in a futile effort to get the girl to move out of the way.

"Buffy!" Willow cried in an excited voice as she ran up to her friend.

As the brunette in old dress cowered away from the ghostly hooker and the car, Alex was annoyed by the guy honking his horn. Figuring that the quickest way for things to quiet down was to get everyone out of the street, he picked up the frightened girl and carried her to the curb. As the Ford sped off, Willow was babbling to her friend.

"Buffy. We've got a huge problem. Xander and I have turned into our costumes and so has everybody else. What do we do?"

As the brunette looked from him to the ghost Alex could tell that she had no idea who either of them were. Lady Elizabeth of Somerset looked back and forth between the man in strange attire that had rescued her from the demon chariot and the harlot who had spoken to her in a most familiar manner, she couldn't understand what she had done for God to curse her so horrifically. As the ghost desperately searched her friend's face for some sign of recognition, Alex watched the pretty teen collapse in a dead faint.

Alex was shaking his head at the absurdity of the situation when he sensed the approach of more of the little demon children. Knowing that they were possessed children he drew his sword and channeled his Quickening along the blade. Normally only using this particular skill when trying to cut through something it had the added benefit of looking impressive, as lightning sparked up and down the blade. Frightened by the light show and the obviously willing to fight human, the little demons ran off. As he turned back around the 18th century lady began to groan as she came too.

"Are you alright?" Willow asked her friend.

"What?" She replied dazedly.

"Are you hurt?" Alex asked.

"What's going on? Where am I? Where's my father? Who ARE you people!?" Elizabeth questioned the strange pair in a panic.

"Buffy are you hurt?" Willow asked again.

"Buffy?" Elizabeth questioned as she sat up. "Who's Buffy and what kind of ridiculous name is that for a person?" She waited for an answer. Seeing none forthcoming the young noble woman began to stand as she sought to continue searching for her father.

"She's not Buffy." Willow commented to Alex.

"You think?" He replied. Alex extended his hand to help the young lady up as he asked. "Excuse me Miss…would you of your courtesy allow me the honor of your name?"

"I am Elizabeth Seymour, daughter of Edward, ninth Duke of Somerset."

"Uh huh…and what year is it milady?"

"Why it is the year of Our Lord 1775 I believe." She replied looking confused and beginning to hyperventilate. "I d-don't understand. Who are you?"

"We're friends," Willow quickly answered.

"Friends of whom? Everything is so strange…Where am I? How did I get here?"

"Miss Elizabeth," Alex began. "You are currently in the village of Sunnydale in the far west of the colonies. You're in the New World miss." He paused as she began to look faint again. After several moments of breathing when she appeared to have calmed he continued. "It is All Hallows Eve, in the year 1997. She is Willow Rosenberg and my name is Alexander Wilson." As he finished speaking, Alex had to move quickly to catch the young lady as she again collapsed in a dead faint.

Looking at his bodily challenged local guide Alex said, "This is getting ridiculous, is there a safe place we can hole up until this spell ends?"

"Her house isn't too far." Willow said in a distracted tone, before continuing rhetorically. "How are we gonna get through this without the Slayer?"

"Which way is her house?" Alex asked. Without answering, the teen ghost began walking toward a nearby two story house. While he carried the dark haired girl he asked. "What's a Slayer?"

 _ **1630 Revello Dr.**_

Listening intently as Willow explained the history of the world and the purpose and abilities of the Slayer line, Alex almost didn't notice when the girl in his arms began to wake up.

After placing the possessed Slayer on a nice couch in a comfortably decorated living room, Alex left the explanations to the ghost as he reached out through his Quickening to ensure that they were alone in the house. The Immortal detected nothing moving within the confines of the house so he turned his attention back to his two companions. He watched as the girl who'd identified herself as Elizabeth pick up a picture on a side table that showed her as a blonde with the red head, another pretty blonde girl and a boy with the face he'd seen in the mirror sitting on the lawn in front of this house.

"This…this could be me." She said in a tremulous voice.

"It IS you. Buffy, can't you remember at all?"

"No! I, I don't understand any of this! Uh, Uh, th…This is some other girl!" She exclaimed as she put the picture back. "I would never wear this, that low apparel, and I don't like this place, and I don't like you, and just want to go home!"

"You ARE home!" Willow exclaimed. With Elizabeth practically in tears she turned back to Alex and said, "She couldn't have dressed up as Xena?"

"If she had you'd still be an idiot and she'd still be upset." Alexander said calmly. "At least this way she isn't swinging her sword at everything she doesn't recognize while swearing in Ancient Greek." As the red head's face assumed a look as if he'd just kicked her puppy he continued. "If as you say, this is a spell that has transformed your friends into their costumes, that means that Elizabeth and I are in fact possessing them. Which means neither of them are home so to speak. Why the hell would keep appealing to your friend when it's obvious that neither of us have any idea who they are. You sound insane."

As the ghost sputtered in indignation he turned to Elizabeth and said, "My lady, it would appear that some child of Satan or other foul denizen of hell has cast a spell placing you into the body of another along with myself various others. Once the sorcerer is defeated the spell will end and we shall all be returned to our rightful place and time. It shan't be easy, but we have the power of God on our side and it is only a matter of time until you go back to your home and your father and never again have to think of the events of this night." As the young girl visibly drew strength from his reassurance he concluded, "If you would be so kind I think it would be a good idea for you pray while the spirit and I work out where the sorcerer is hiding so that I may vanquish him."

As the 18th century noble woman knelt with her hand pressed together and her head bowed, she began to pray. Just as Alex began to speak to Willow they heard a woman scream from outside. After running to the door and looking out, he spotted an attractive brunette in a cat suit being chased down the street by a strange furry creature. As he looked at her, feelings of lust, inferiority, exasperation and fierce protectiveness flooded through him for some reason. Without thought he was out the door and across the yard moving to put himself between her and danger.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

 _ **1630 Revello Dr.**_

"Somebody help me!" The pretty brunette screamed as she ran. As she risked a look over her shoulder she screamed again. After turning to face forward again in an attempt to redouble her speed she ran into a man in a dark coat.

"Get in the house!" He yelled as he moved to place himself between her and the Sasquatch. He kept his sword interposed between him and the monster as he slowly backed away. When Bigfoot made to rush him, he ducked and slashed. His sword scoured a deep strike just above the monster's knee. As it collapsed he retreated back to the front door.

"Cordelia!" Willow exclaimed.

"Wait a…What's going on?" The pretty cheerleader asked as she looked around the room. Seeing Willow Rosenberg of all people dressed up like a hooker with Buffy in a pretty old fashioned gown kneeling in prayer and Xander Harris of all people playing the rescuing hero made Cordelia think she'd taken a wrong turn into the Twilight Zone.

"Okay, your name is Cordelia, you're not a cat, you're in high school, and we're friends. Well, sort of." The red headed ghost said.

"That's nice, Willow. And you went mental when?"

"You know us?" Willow asked.

"Yeah. Lucky me." She replied sarcastically. "What's with the name game?"

"A lot's going on."

"No kidding. I was just attacked by Jo-Jo, the Dog-Faced Boy. Look at my costume!" Cordelia exclaimed as she showed everyone ragged tear along her forearm. "Do you really think that Partytown's gonna give me my deposit back? Not on the likely." Finishing she wrapped her arms around herself and shivered.

Taking off his coat, Alex stripped the long sleeve shirt off and put it around the pretty brunette's shoulders. "Here." He said.

"Thanks."

"Okay, you guys stay here while I get some help. If something tries to get in, just fight it off." Willow said as she turned to leave.

"Well, i-it's not our place to fight. Uh, surely some men will protect us." Buffy volunteered.

"Okay, one…why not just call whoever you're going to see since I'm pretty sure that would be faster. And two, it would probably be a good idea if we all went to a more populated area since there is strength in numbers and this house isn't exactly a defensible position." Alex questioned, once again shocked at how idiotic the ghost was being.

"What's the riff?" Cordelia questioned the red head after listening to the weird things the Slayer and her friend were saying.

"I-it's like amnesia, okay? They don't know who they are. Just sit tight." She replied as she started walking towards the wall.

"I don't know what that is, but I'm certain I don't have it. I bathe quite often!" Elizabeth exclaimed.

"Hey!" Alex yelled to get the ghost's attention as she and Cordelia gave Elizabeth strange looks. "Do you know the phone number of a person who can stop this?" He asked in a slow and patronizing tone of voice.

"Giles should be able to figure out what's going on and how to stop it." Willow replied as her temper began to fray and her face flushed in anger.

"What's his number?" He asked as he picked up the phone.

Getting the number from the spirit, he set the phone to speaker as they listened to it ring.

"Sunnydale High Library, Mr. Giles speaking. How may I help you?" An older male voice with a British accent came from the speaker.

"Giles, it's Willow. We've got a BIG problem." The ghost babbled. "BuffyandXanderhaveturnedintotheircostumesanddon'tknowwhotheyare!"

Exchanging an incredulous look with Elizabeth, Alex looked at Cordelia and asked, "Is she always like this?"

"Pretty much." Cordelia said sympathetically. "She's like super smart but she's also major spaz."

"Good heavens." The man on the phone exclaimed. "Willow, forgive me if my ability to translate your babble is lacking but it sounded like you just said that Buffy and Xander have turned into their costumes."

"That's what I said Giles. Buffy thinks she is an English lady named…" She trailed off as she looked at her transformed friend.

"Elizabeth Seymour, daughter of Edward, ninth Duke of Somerset." Alex jumped in. "And I'm Alexander Wilson, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at NYU."

"Was that Xander?" Giles asked.

"Yeah." Willow replied. "Cordelia and I are the only ones who know who we are. But I'm a ghost Giles! I dressed as a ghost and now I'm all not body having! Xander dressed as an Immortal from Highlander and Buffy wanted to impress Angel so she dressed up as a lady from back when he was human."

"Good Lord!" He exclaimed. "So to summarize, you, Xander and Buffy have all been transformed into your costumes. Is that correct?"

"Yes."

"And what about Cordelia?" He asked. "You said she was there with you and knew who she was."

"I'm still me Giles." The cat suit wearing young lady answered. "No turning into a cat or anything."

"I see…"

The librarian was interrupted as Alex drew his sword when a feeling of oily darkness washed over him. He waved for them to take up positions against the far wall when they looked at him in concern, as he explained, "Something not human just came into the house. Get over there." While the disturbing feeling of whatever had come into the house moved closer, Alex place his back to the wall just to the side of the entrance from the kitchen and prepared to introduce whatever it was to his sword. Normally his Quickening allowed him to become one with all creatures around him, allowing him to know their thoughts, their moods, what they were going to do…with this creature he detected intense evil.

What appeared to be a good looking, dark haired man in his mid 20s walked through the doorway from the kitchen. He was immediately forced to duck as Alex's blade passed through where his head had just been. He had pale skin and dressed all in black, and Alex didn't like him on sight. As the human looking creature whirled to face off with Alex, he lunged straight ahead and barely missed impaling the creature through the stomach, though it was forced onto its' back. As he drew back his blade and prepared to deliver a fatal blow, Willow and Cordelia cried out.

"Wait!"

Barely halting his strike in time to keep from decapitating the intruder, Alex slowly backed up enough to keep it in view as he addressed his companions. "Okay…someone wanna clue me in on why I'm not allowed to kill this thing? He's obviously not a kid, and he feels vile."

"That's Angel…he's Buffy's boyfriend." Willow explained. "He's a vampire, but he was cursed and now he has a soul so he's a good guy now."

"Uh huh…" He said, looking back and forth between the man laying on the carpet and the ghost. "Deos salvifica me ex filiis." He said in disgust as he turned away from the vampire and back to the phone.

"Gods save me from children?" Giles voice came through the speaker.

"Only children could be that naïve." Alex responded. "Correct me if I have this wrong, but from what Willow has told me this world is infested with demonic creatures. Vampires in particular. She said that all vampires were demons that inhabit a human corpse and have an insatiable need for blood and murder. Do I have that right?"

"Well…yes."

"And the Slayer is a mystically empowered warrior who's destiny it is to fight these creatures…?"

"Yes."

"Also that you are a 'Watcher', part of a secret organization that trains and aids the Slayer in her so-called 'divine' mission."

"I am."

"Now you say that this particular vampire has been cursed with a soul. And that he is the boyfriend of the Slayer, right?"

"All of that is correct."

"So what you are telling me is that a 17 year old girl who you are responsible for is dating a demon ridden corpse inhabited by a soul ripped from the afterlife and you're okay with this."

"Hey! Buffy has every right to date whoever she wants." Willow interrupted. "When you say it like that is sounds bad! Besides she's in love!"

As Alex snorted in contempt at the ghost, Giles answered. "It's not really my choice. I unfortunately don't have the right to dictate her personal life."

"Well when she dies a new Slayer is called, yes?"

"Yes."

"So stop helping her. She's obviously too stupid to live and odds are you'll have better luck with the next one." Alex explained calmly as he ignored the outraged squeal of Willow. "It's not a nice thing to do I'll grant you. But having a Slayer without a self-destructive streak will save more lives in the long run."

As the two men had been speaking, Elizabeth along with Cordelia, Angel and Willow had listened in on their conversation.

"Does somebody want to clue me in as to why Xander was trying to turn me into a pincushion?" Angel asked.

"Yes we have rather gone off topic." Giles said.

As Willow began to explain the events of the night to Angel, Alex and Cordelia moved upstairs to ensure that it was secure. When they returned it was to Giles grilling Willow as to what the differences were in the costumes that the teenagers had acquired. Upon determining that Cordelia's was from Partytown while the others were from Ethan's he seemed to reach a conclusion.

"Remain there. I shall investigate the costume shop and hopefully put an end to the spell within the hour." Giles said before hanging up.

"The upstairs are secure, vampire check the kitchen while I check the basement." Alex commanded as moved towards the entrance to the downstairs of the house.

As Alex was completing his inspection he heard a loud crash and women screaming. He rushed to the kitchen in time to see Angel ram a stake into the chest of another man, who immediately crumpled into dust.

"I take it that was a vampire." Alex commented as Angel turned to face him. "Whoa…that's a serious kind of ugly you got going on there." He said as he got a good look at the enlarged brow ridges, yellow eyes, and shark-like teeth of vampire game face for the first time. That was when he noticed that only he, Angel, and Cordelia were in the kitchen. He reached out with his Quickening, attempting to detect Willow and Elizabeth and ensure they were okay. When he noticed only the three of them were in the house he began to worry.

"Somebody want to tell me where Lady Useless and the red headed ghost child are?"

"We have to find her!" Angel exclaimed. "Buffy panicked when she saw me fighting the intruder. She ran out the door while I was occupied and Willow followed her."

"Dammit!" Alex exclaimed.

 _ **Street outside of Spike's warehouse.**_

Stepping outside when he heard the screams start, Spike's face lit up with child-like glee. It had been more than 50 years since he'd been out to party on Halloween night. Ever since it had become a commercial cash cow for human businesses. When he was young this was a night recognized as a demonic and humans had known to stay indoors. But in the last few decades they all wanted to dress up as monsters and get candy. The family atmosphere made him want to puke.

Ever since Dru had told him that tonight was gonna be game changer he'd been restless with anticipation. And now it was finally here. The centuries old vampire watched with delight as children transformed into demons chased their babysitters and parents up and down the streets. He watched a young woman get mutilated by a pack of 3 miniature zombies and he laughed.

"Well! This is just…neat!" He exclaimed to himself in malicious glee.

 _ **An alley 5 blocks from the Summers' home**_

"Are you sure she went this way?" Angel asked for the fifth time since they'd begun searching.

"Do I look like a bloodhound to you?" Alex replied in exasperation. "I told you for some reason my detection abilities are clouded. I just have a vague sense that she's this way."

"She'll be okay." Cordelia volunteered.

"'Buffy' would be okay. Whoever she is now, she's helpless. C'mon! We have to hurry."

At the far end of the alley, Spike was unashamedly listening to the trio's conversation while surrounded by a group of child monsters.

"You hear that, boyos?" Spike asked his new minions.

As they nodded and growled in agreement, he continued. "Somewhere out here is the sweetest and most tender flesh you have EVER tasted. All we have to do is find her first." Looking around at them he let the anticipation build for a moment before leading the group off on the hunt. "C'mon."

 _ **Nearby alley at the same time.**_

Elizabeth cowered behind the refuse that littered the seedy little alley she found herself in following her panicked flight from the demon house. Looking around as sniffled she tried to think of what to do. Failing to come up with anything, she gathered her long skirt in her hands as started to walk towards the far end of the alley. Hearing a bottle roll across the pavement, the young woman looked over heard shoulder…seeing nothing she faced forward again only to realize she was nose to abdomen with a monster that stood far taller than anything she'd ever seen.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

 ** _Street corner downtown_**

For more than 600 years the Kindred who'd taken to calling himself Kapaneus had been in the lost city of Kaymakli waiting for Gehenna. Having long since tired of watching his kind squabble and fight amongst themselves and treat human beings with less respect than cattle…he'd sought solitude and rest. He had achieved the mythical state of Golconda millennia before recorded human history began and no longer needed blood to survive. Occasionally spirit walking the world to keep himself informed as the world changed he spent most of his time in rest and meditation, reminiscing about the world when he was young and innocent. He'd seen and done far too much in his existence to really experience either interest or curiosity, but he liked to keep himself informed, more as a habit than anything else. Remaining alone in an abandoned underground city for more than half a millennium tended to result in boredom he'd found. Until one night, he was neither alone or underground anymore. But rather he'd found himself on a street corner in a strange city. Everywhere he looked he saw miniature creatures from various mythologies all over the world chasing humans as they screamed in terror. It felt as if no time had passed and yet he was no longer wearing his ancient robes, instead he appeared to be wearing some form of hide trousers and a sleeveless tunic that prominently displayed the mark of his damnation. Something about his location felt off as the mark he'd carried since the death of his brother burned and for the first time in an epoch he found himself struggling to control his beast. This place felt powerful, as if something was calling to the darkest reaches of himself and his beast was responding. Curious despite himself, the ancient being began to wander.

 ** _Alley not far from Sunnydale High School_**

Screaming in terror, Elizabeth whorled to run as the giant creature with the head of a wolf barred its fangs. While the possessed teen girl ran as fast as her legs could carry her and her wardrobe would allow. The nearly nine feet tall wolf-man hybrid that had startled her savored the scent of the human female's fear and howled before giving chase.

Having heard both the scream and the howl as they passed the entrance to yet another alleyway; Alex channeled the power of his immortality into his limbs and drew his sword as he charged. Angel and Cordelia sprinted on the possessed teen's heels towards the far end where the noise had come from. The sight of Elizabeth desperately running with a monstrous shadow leisurely keeping pace on her heels scared all three of them. The trio desperately increased their speed in a hopefully not futile attempt to reach her.

When Elizabeth saw the trio of familiar strangers she redoubled her speed. Unfortunately as she got nearer, her foot caught on the edge of her gown and as a result she fell practically at the charging Alexander's feet. Utilizing the battle honed reflexes of a millennia old warrior, Alex leapt over her prone form. While in mid-air Alex brought his blade down in a prodigious two handed blow at the same that his feet returned to the street.

"Get her out of here!" He cried as the furry monster dodged his attack with superhuman speed. Not looking to see if they others had obeyed him the Immortal concentrated all of his attention on his growling opponent. Alex kept his sword interposed between him and the huge werewolf as the sounds of the others faded into the back room

"Hey Lassie…anyone ever tell you it isn't nice to play with your food?" Taking in the nine foot tall, 500+ lbs of monster standing before him, Alex desperately wished he was anywhere but this crazy town. 'I haven't been a knight in 700 years' he thought to himself, 'what the hell am I doing rescuing the damsel in distress?'

As the two opponents sized each other up, Alex couldn't help but notice that the rabid creature was covered in scars, some of which created unusual patterns…as if they deliberately made to resemble runes, glyphs, or some other form of decoration. It also appeared to be suffering from some form of mange, as its body was covered in a patchwork of pale disease looking flesh and dirty grey fur.

With a growl it swiped at Alex with a deformed hand that ended in terrifying claws. Barely managing to interpose his sword to block the strike his blade opened a bleeding wound. Alex felt a surge of confidence as the creature's blood misted the air from where he parried its' blow and inflicted a deep cut. Only to pale in fear as he watched the cut he'd just inflicted to its' arm begin to close before his eyes, even faster that an Immortal could heal.

'I'm screwed.' He thought to himself. But one thing he'd learned in over 4,000 years of combat was to never give up the initiative in a fight. With that thought uppermost in mind, he attacked. For the next several minutes the two preternatural beings danced and wove amongst the shadows of a filth strewn alley as each tried their best to kill the other. Keeping his blade and his body constantly moving, Alex was slowly being driven back by the werewolf's superior speed, strength, and healing abilities. No matter the strike landed, the Immortal warrior witnessed each wound heal while the beast kept right on fighting. Suddenly, the possessed teen unleashed a lightning fast lunge straight for the burning crimson eyes of his opponent, desperately praying that two feet of steel to the brain would end the creature.

Barely shifting its head in time to avoid the thrust, the feral creature retaliated with a side swipe that threw Alex into the alley wall. As blood poured down his chest and pain radiated through his body, his millennia of experience told Alex that the wound he'd just received was fatal. He had at least three broken ribs and what felt like a punctured if not fully collapsed lung. Alex knew he had maybe a minute before he collapsed and shortly thereafter he'd drown in his own blood. Working to mentally wall off the pain of the mortal wound, he looked up just in time to see his opponent rush him.

Desperately jumping out of the way, Alex's instinctive backhand slash landed a lucky blow and hamstrung one of its' deformed legs. As it collapsed to a knee, the ancient warrior in the body of a dying teenager used the last of his strength in an instinctive two handed blow that viciously separated the head from his downed opponent before he fell beside its' body.

 ** _Rooftop overlooking the alley_**

He'd spent the last several hours wandering the magnificent city. It was one thing to witness the wonders that humanity had developed in recent centuries during an astral projection and quite another to see them in person. And he'd seen things he'd NEVER, in more millennia than he cared to think about encountered before. Incredibly smooth and unnaturally straight roads, beautifully efficient homes, absolutely no manure or other filth anywhere, it was all so CLEAN! Horseless carriages, light without fire to illuminate the night, and even some form of flying machine had passed by overhead. The short, by modern standards, dark haired man had even been attacked as if he were a mortal. By a small group of creatures that called themselves vampires! The piss yellow eyes, enlarged brow ridges and teeth like a shark had looked interesting but they were hardly a match for him. The sheer effrontery had caused him to lose his temper a bit. Less than a minute later 5 piles of dust swirled in the wind as he'd removed the heads of 2 and ripped the shriveled dead hearts out of the other 3. They hadn't even had time to scream.

In an effort to avoid attention as he continued his explorations, the ancient being had taken to traveling by rooftop where ever possible. A short time ago he'd caught a scent that was tantalizingly familiar and he'd followed it to this dilapidated area. And it was while doing this that he'd heard the terrified scream of a girl followed by the howl of a creature he hadn't encountered for centuries before he'd entered the underground city to begin his self imposed exile. It was then that the buried memory of that illusive scent had clicked and Kapaneus finally remembered just what it was he'd been tracking. A Black Spiral Dancer was hunting nearby.

If it had been a normal Garou, Kapaneus would have ignored it and moved on with his explorations. But he truly despised Wyrm corrupted werewolves and Black Spirals in particular. He'd had many good friends amongst the White Howler tribe, and the thought of what had become of them filled him with unaccustomed rage. Moving quickly, the ancient Cainite arrived at the edge of a roof overlooking a decrepit alley just in time to witness the blood soaked battle between a human who reeked of a power that Kapaneus hadn't detected in centuries with a sword and a Black Spiral in full Crinos form. He watched in amazement as the Gladiator managed to do the unthinkable and actually emerge victorious. Dropping down from the roof, he fell 30 feet to land lightly beside the mortally wounded young human.

Taking a moment to ensure that he used the language he'd heard spoken earlier in the night Kapaneus commented. "You are a mighty warrior to have slain this beast. What is your name?"

"Alexander." Was the gurgled reply, as the possessed teen fought to speak with one lung collapsed and the other rapidly filling with blood.

Kapaneus then utilized one of his kinds more popular powers to ensnare the weakened mind of the dying youth. Mentally commanding him to answer honestly and completely he asked, "Alexander, I sense age and power within you. But I have never encountered your kind before…what are you?"

Looking up into the haunting eyes of a young looking man with ancient eyes and unnaturally pale skin, the possessed teen was unable to resist and followed the strange man's command. Due to his injuries, the dark haired young man answered with brevity. "Immortal," He swallowed thickly before continuing, "…only meet Final Death if decapitated."

Perhaps it was the long isolation, or curiosity, or madness, or maybe just a whim. But for whatever reason, Kapaneus who was glad to be proven correct as to what the young man was and decided that he was impressed by what he'd just witnessed. Between his admiration at the warriors' valor and the curiosity that he'd been nursing since the first time he'd encountered a Gladiator the ancient Kindred decided that he would do something he hadn't done since before recorded history began. He decided to Sire a Childe.

Moving with inhuman speed, Kapaneus picked up the teen's body and bit into his neck. Wanting to keep the strange man away from him, Alex weakly attempted to struggle. As the feeding began his struggles became weaker due to blood loss and the never before experienced pleasure of the Kindred Kiss.

After a few minutes of ecstasy the feeding ceased, as Kapaneus reeled back from the rush that Alexander's blood had given him. Containing the age and power of a Kindred Methuselah with the vitality and warmth of a mortal's heart, the combination was indescribably delicious. It also didn't help that Kapaneus hadn't fed on anything in more than half a millennium. It was only due to his indomitable will that he hadn't frenzied at the first taste and drained the boy to final death. After taking a moment to accustom himself to the buzzing feeling now flowing through his veins, the elder Cainite bit into his wrist and forced the potent vitae into the dying warrior's mouth and forced him to swallow just before his heart stopped beating.

Moments later a blood red fog began to seep from the dead warrior's body and miniature lightning bolts of the same color began to strike out all around them. The bolts impacted with such force that windows blew out, exterior lights flickered and exploded, and cracks appeared in the brick walls lining both sides of the alley. Wind blew and thunder cracked as one of the bolts slammed in Kapaneus' chest. As Alexander was jerked up into a sitting position, his eyes opened to show not their normal cinnamon brown but rather a sickly glowing yellow-green. While the lightning bolt continued to connect the two supernatural beings they began to levitate into the air as a visible flow of energy traveled from the Elder to the newly created childe, and Alexander screamed in agony while Kapaneus threw his head back and opened his mouth in a silent scream.

Suddenly thoughts, memories, and experiences…of people and places flowed through Alexander's mind in a never ending wave of nights. It was the most intense Quickening Alex had ever experienced as thousands upon thousands of years of memories overwhelmed him. Their connection could have lasted for a minute or an eternity before suddenly and without warning the connecting bolt flickered out and both bodies fell to the ground.

Xander Harris remained conscious just long enough to witness the body of a senior he vaguely recognized crumple into dust next to him before darkness swallowed him.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

 _ **Alley near the High School, morning after Halloween**_

Xander came awake with a raging migraine and a parched throat. The feel of sunlight on his skin woke him up. It was both a common everyday sensation that he no longer thought about and one that he hadn't felt since before humans learned to wear animal furs for warmth. Startled by the awe he felt within himself to be feeling sunlight without pain, it took the dark haired teen several minutes to work out why he felt the way he did.

One moment he'd been returning with his troop to the school so he could head to the Bronze and meet up with the girls, and the next he found himself laying on the ground in a filth strewn alley trying not gag from the stench. It seemed to take him a year, but was probably no more than a minute or two before the young man gathered enough strength and gumption to stagger to his feet.

Suddenly the night before came back to him in a rush, causing him to stagger into a nearby wall as in a matter of minutes that felt like a literal eternity the Californian teenager got to relive the lives of the 4,000 year old Immortal who'd possessed him last night and Kapaneus the vampire that'd tried to Embrace him. Kapaneus, a Greek name he'd taken to using in 16th century. He had many names that were older, the first of which was Cain, eldest son of his father Adam and his mother Eve. Cain; also known as the first murderer, Caine, and the Dark Father. The man who sacrificed his brother Abel on the altar to God in the hope of receiving the Creator's blessing. The one cursed by the Creator with the Mark of Damnation and 200,000 year old progenitor of the vampire race known as the Kindred. The sheer weight of memory threatened to swamp the young man as he worked to process and store the vast quantity of knowledge that was now a part of his psyche.

'God, my head! Who am I? I somehow turned into my costume last night. I remember that. Thanks to some rank bastard's spell I'm now a 17 year old with the memories and experiences of a 4,000 year old Immortal warrior. Then a vampire decides to turn me. And not just any vampire but the FIRST vampire! And thanks to my Immortal Quickening resurrecting me at the same time that the 'Embrace' revived me as a Kindred we have some weird metaphysical crap happen that links me to the bastard and now I have HIS memories in my head too!' He ranted to himself as he staggered towards the mouth of the alley. He never even noticed that his mental rant was in ancient Greek. 'At least it didn't take. The spell must have ended and now I'm back to good ole Xander. At least the Embrace didn't take and I'm still human.'

"Or am I still Xander? Or am I Alaksandu now? I'm nowhere near jaded or apathetic enough to be Caine I don't think... All of the above?" He asked himself aloud, "Sometimes being the butt-monkey of Sunnydale really sucks!"

Feeling better after his verbal melt down, Alex as he'd decided to think of himself picked up the fallen sword he'd 'borrowed' from Giles' weapons cage and after sheathing it began to make plans as he started walking back to his parent's house. Of course even before Halloween's little hiccup to his psyche he'd never considered that place his home. 'Let's see…first things first, I need money. With money I can get out of there. Once I've got my own place I can start figuring out what to do in the future.' He never even noticed that he was covered in blood, grime, and filth as he began the long walk back to his neighborhood.

Minutes after he'd begun walking Alex had already come to the conclusion that while the memories of Alaksandu were great for a lot of things, including combat training and academic knowledge, it was Caine's memories that were the more interesting. Alex now had all of the memories of a major mythical figure in the secret history of the world, the truth of which not even the Watchers knew. They informed Alex as to the reality of the world and the Hellmouths…all seven of them that still exist. He'd also gained a lot of knowledge about magic, the demonic, and many other supernatural subjects that Alaksandu just hadn't been aware of. Apparently the Quickening of the Gladiators, as the Kindred called the mysterious warriors, influenced them to avoid the supernatural. Between that and the Delirium, the effect supernaturals had on humans that caused them to disbelieve, ignore or misremember supernatural events without hard evidence, the Immortal warriors never knew or realized that they weren't the only ones that walked the world and weren't human.

Which had truly shocked the teenager was that not only were the Highlander movie and television series accurate in terms of the basics of an Immortal's life, but the role-playing game he, Jesse, and Willow used to play was actually created by the Kindred to do two things. Help protect the Masquerade and help prepare humanity for the inevitable revelation that they weren't alone on the planet. The Council of Justicars…the leadership of the clans of the Kindred, knew that it was only a matter of time until human technology acquired enough proof to break through the Delirium and out them, so they were taking a proactive role and laying the ground work for an enormous ad campaign to make the Kindred sympathetic and likeable to humanity. For more than a decade they'd been using their vast resources to help fund advances in medical technology, hospitals, orphanages and all kinds of other philanthropies to help the downtrodden and disenfranchised.

While the mage and fae games were almost complete fiction the werewolf, wraith, and vampire games in the so-called 'World of Darkness' were also rather historically accurate in terms of background information. Vampire the Masquerade even revealed the weaker Kindred capabilities and society…well other than the fact that the Sabbat didn't exist. That faction of Kindred society was created to explain away the behavior of the Tso, a Hebrew word meaning filth that Kindred society had been using to refer to Deadboy's kind since Roman times because they felt it perfectly described the demonic bloodsuckers that were created as an unholy reflection of the Kindred nature. And the Tzimisce Clan and Baali bloodline were created to explain away the presence of demons and other inhuman looking monsters.

Alex found it quite funny that the full blooded demon that had decided to make a mockery of Caine's descendants and create the first Tso had deeply regretted it before Caine had allowed it to die. Unfortunately the damage had been done by that point and they were spread too far to make hunting them down practical. 'Which doesn't stop the Kindred from hunting the Tso and any other demons whenever and wherever the little cockroaches are found.' He thought to himself with a laugh as he crossed a deserted street before entering his neighborhood's subdivision. To the Kindred, humanity was their food, and like any good manager of livestock, they wanted their herd fat, healthy, and happy. They had learned all too well what happened when a pissed off segment of humanity found out about the supernatural. And no one wanted the return of the Inquisition on a planetary scale.

Another little tid-bit of information that COMPLETELY blew Alex's mind was that the Kindred existed in every profession and occupation all over the world. They were senators, doctors, and janitors along with being priests and cops and all most everything else except for firefighters. And the only reason that occupation was exempt was because of the absolute and overwhelming fear of fire that all Kindred suffered from, which made it too likely that someone would frenzy and break the Masquerade. But since with sufficient age and power Kindred could walk in daylight, pass a medical screen, and even eat food if they've fed recently enough meant that they could mimic human enough to work anywhere. The only Kindred denied the sun permanently like a Tso was Caine himself as part of his curse.

Having finally arrived back at his parents' house after more than an hour of walking the streets, as he went to enter through the front door, Alex staggered back, gagging from the miasma of cigarettes, alcohol, and rancid body odor that rolled forth into the morning air. After taking a moment to suppress his gag reflex, Alex made a point of entering silently as the last thing he needed was a confrontation with the abusive drunks he 'loving' called mother and father. Luckily it was still early enough for both of them to be passed out in the pig sty that in another home would be the living room. Before making his way to his room to get cleaned up the dark haired teen took a moment to look around the house with new eyes.

Alex was absolutely disgusted by what he saw. Dirty plates and dishes were everywhere along with overflowing ashtrays and enough empty alcohol bottles that if they'd been full could have stocked a nightclub bar. As Xander he'd always been ashamed of his parents and their home but he'd also thanks to the way he'd been raised, believed that a 'goofy, good for nothing waste of food and money', as his father usually put it didn't deserve any better. As Alex, he knew that if he'd lived in any other town in America, where the civil servants were actually competent to do their jobs, Child Protective Services would have had him outta the house and living somewhere else before elementary school was over.

He decided then and there that he'd be out of the house and with his own place within a week. After making his way to his room and stripping down to his boxers, Alex made his way towards his shower, ready to let the hot water cleanse him from the events of the night before. Alex hopped into the stall and took his shower without really paying attention to his surroundings, anxious to allow the hot water to wash away all of the blood and grime that had accumulated the night before. After finishing he got out of the shower and began to dry off when he got look at himself in the mirror and staggered back in shock.

"I look like that dude from 'Fist of the North Star'…what was his name Gary Daniels?" He wondered aloud as he struck different poses and flexed in front of the mirror and admired his new body.

The shape of his face had changed slightly as he no longer had any baby fat anywhere on his body. His cheekbones stood out more and the line of his jaw was more defined. After taking several minutes to think about it, Alex decided that the changes made him look both older and more handsome.

'I really should stop being surprised whenever weird crap happens.' He thought to himself as he moved closer to the mirror to get a better look at his transformed body. 'Finally the Xan-man gets a benny!'

He'd always been in decent shape for a non-jock teenage male, and his body had been improved thanks to over a year of running in terror and trying not to die while dealing with Sunnydale's nightlife, but it had never looked like this before Halloween. Sharply defined muscles lined his arms, shoulders, and chest and an eight pack of abs were shown in his reflection without an ounce of fat left on his frame. Where before he'd had the build of an active teenager, he now had a build that wouldn't look out of place on a gymnast or a professional dancer. All of his muscles were rock hard and stood out in stark definition without even trying to flex. That was when the teen got a good look at the inside of his left forearm and received the shock of his life. A rune in a language not spoken on the planet since before the rise of the pyramids was emblazoned in a virulent crimson shown vividly against his tanned skin. Feeling incredibly sick, Alex stared at the Mark of Caine and wondered what he'd done to make the universe hated him so much.

"She doesn't you know." An English accented baritone said from behind him.


End file.
